Yule Ball (Scopatore)
*Main Hall, Beauxbatons *High Chamber, Durmstrang *Hall of Alexandria, New Alexandria|date = Christmas Day|participants = *Students fourth-year and above *Students third-year and under if accompanied by a student who is fourth-year or above *Beauxbatons staff *Durmstrang staff *New Alexandria staff}}The Yule Ball is a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament. It is a formal dance held on Christmas night of a tournament year, being opened by the tournament champions themselves with their dance partners in an opening dance known as the Champions Waltz. When the Triwizard Tournament, and by extension, the Yule Ball, was reinstated in 1994, it was held at Beauxbatons Academy. Although students were required to be in their fourth year and above in order to be permitted to attend, younger students could go if they were invited by an older student to be their date. The ball begins at 8:00 p.m. and ends at midnight, however it is not uncommon to find afterparties that continue until the early hours of the morning. 1994/1995 Triwizard Tournament Preparation For the first time in centuries, the European wizarding world held the Triwizard Tournament, and with that, the Yule Ball. Olympe Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons, decreed that the ball would be open to students fourth year and above, but should any student in the years below be asked to go by an older student, they would be permitted to attend. In addition, all tournament champions were required to attend with a dance partner, as tradition dictated that they open the event with an opening dance. The announcement of the ball didn't initially cause a panic with the visiting students, especially the New Alexandrian students, who were made up equally of boys and girls who were planning on going with each other. However, New Alexandrian Headmaster Anastas Zabat stated that in order to promote inter-school cooperation, New Alexandrian students must attend the ball with a date from either Beauxbatons or Durmstrang, the latter school's Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, issuing a similar decree the same night as Headmaster Zabat. Although students like Pietro Maximoff had no problem with going to the ball with a date from another school; the Southern Italian attended the Yule Ball with [[Aimee Lévesque (Scopatore)|Aimee''' 'Lévesque]] on his arm, but others, like Clemente Alborosie and Viktor Krum, found it hard to attend the ball with people who weren't their sweethearts. The two aforementioned wizards ended up attending the event with Lyudmila Rusinova and Rawya Zaghloul respectively. The Ball When the Ball finally came, the champions were prepared outside the gaits of the ballroom with their dates. Beauxbatons champion Fleur Delacour appeared with Roger Delacroix wearing a silvery-grey satin dress with her date sporting simple yet elegant dress robes embroidered with symbolism of the Delacroix wizarding family. Durmstrang champion Viktor Krum, like the rest of his male classmates, wore his Durmstrang uniform while his date, New Alexandrian student Rawya Zaghloul, wore an elegant Egyptian silk dress. New Alexandrian champion Pietro Maximoff arrived donning his New Alexandrian formal wear with his date, Beauxbatons student Aimee Lévesque, modeling a silk metallic silver gown. The champions opened the Ball beautifully with the Champions Waltz. Afterwards, the rest of the attendees took to the dance floor and twirled to slow melodies before sitting down to enjoy their dinners. A menu was given to each attendee, but no waiters were there to take any orders. This confusion continued until the student body witnessed Madame Maxime verbally order her food, which appeared on her plate a second later. The menu was split up into "''appetizer", "main course" ''and "desert"'' sections, and was entirely made up of elegant French meals. Once more, the food did not come with a description, so the students from Durmstrang and New Alexandria had no idea what the meals entailed, forcing most of them to resort to ordering a random meal and hoping it tasted good. After the meals ended, the dance floor lit up with Canadian wizarding rock band "The Lonely Creeps" performing their hit song "Ghouls and Goblins". The attendees immediately went to the stage and began dancing around. The Lonely Creeps played several more songs before the mood changed to a more dance pop tone, with Bulgarian singer Lili Slava and Romanian singer Marius Pavel performing several songs each. Afterwards, the mood changed once again to accommodate slower dancing. It was here that several attendees switched partners with other dancers for one or two songs. The final song was performed by Madame Maxime herself, bringing an end to the first Yule Ball in centuries. After the Ball ended, most students were upset and expressed their wish that the party would go on longer. For many, it did, as afterparties were held through the school for several hours afterwards, with the last party being broken up at 4:00 a.m. Notable participants 1994 Category:Harry Potter Universe (Scopatore) Category:Events